Typewriting machine



April 16, 1929. A. G. F. KUROWSKI TYPEWRITING MACHINE Original Filed Oct. 31, 1924 C5 SheetsSheet INVENTOR ATTO E April 1929. A. e. F. KUROWSKI 1,709,355

TYPEWRITING MACHINE Original Filed Oct. 31, 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR v I ATTO E April 6, 1929. A. G. F. KUROWSKI 1,709,355

TYPEWRITING MACHINE I Original Filed Oct. 31, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR ATTO Patented Apr. 16, 1929.

UNITED STATES ALFRED G.' F. KUROWSKI, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO UNDERW'OOD ELLEOTT FISHER COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

TYPEWRITING MAC-BIN E.

Original application filed October 31, 1924, Serial No. 746 951.

mechanism for compensating for the 10 weight of the different devices which may be attached to the shift-frame of the machine without affecting the depression of the shiftkeys.

The stencil-attachment illustrated and de scribed herein will serve to demonstrate the utility of the invention. The attachment includes a stationary frame fastened to the platen-frame by means of easily accessible fasteners, and a swinging frame pivoted at 0 a point upon the fixed frame to the rear of the machine, and is provided with clamping jaws for first gripping a stencil-card by its upper margin, and then presenting the stencil to the printing field. The stencil-carry- ,ing frame shown in this connection is arranged to be lifted to line-space the stencil by means of a turning knob operating a cam-and-ratchet mechanism co-operating with means supported by the carriage to feed the stencil step by step to the printing line.

It is customary in typewriting machines to normally operate the typewriter in lowercase type and to lift the platen to upper case by the direct depression of a manually-operable key against the weight of the platenframe and attachments thereon. Generally a counterbalancing spring is provided to aid in raising the platen-frame. Said spring should be comparatively weak so that the platen-frame may be restored to lowercase type by gravity against the tension of the spring.

It will be apparent that if the counterbalancing spring is adjusted for compensating for the weight of the shift-frame without any attachment thereon, and then the weight of an attachment is added to the shifteframe, the full weight of the attachment will have to be lifted by the shift-key, and consequently will make the key-depression hard and greatly hamper the operation of the machine.

In order to improve this condition, readweight of Divided and this application filed December Serial No. 155,321.

ily accessible means are provided in the machine for effectively tensioning the shiftkey spring and thus overcoming the added the attachment.

In the patent to Sterling Elliott, No. 1,378,771, of May 17, 1921, there is disclosed a stencil-device built into a typewriting machine. The present invention illustrates an analogous device, in the form of an attachment which may be easily and quickly attached to and detached from a typewriter, and consequently will enable the operative to alternatively use the typewriter either for ordinary typing without the attachment or with the attachment thereon as a stencilcutter. This necessitates having accessible adjusting means for quickly increasing or reducing the degree of compensation required, withoutinconvenience.

On the other hand, it may be desirable to add to the stencil attachment another device, such as a collating table; or a different and possibly heavier stencil-device may be bodily substituted on the machine. To these ends, the shift-spring in the machine may be readily adjusted at one end for the various weights of the dili'erent attachments by changing the point of actuation of said spring, while means are also provided for stretching the spring by its other extremity when the attachment is placed on the machine and for releasing the same when the attachment is removed.

This is a division of my application, Serial No. 746,951, filed October 31, 192-1- (now Patent No. 1,621,074, dated March 15, 1927 Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is atransverse-section of the carriage and the platen-shifting mechanism of atypewriting machine, and shows the featuresembodying the present invention applied to the machine including the stencildevice shown in operating position and the shift-spring under tension to support the added weight of the attachment.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the typewriting machine. showing the stencil-device removed from the machine, and includes the shift-mechanism showing the shift-spring released.

Figure 3 is a transverse section of the typewriter-carriage and the stencil-device, showing means for supporting and feeding a carbon-strip around the platen.

Figure 4 is a side View of a detail, showing the shift-frame and a lever tensioning a spring operatively connected to the shiftframe.

Figure 5 is a plan view of a detail, showing the shift-frame and a lever tensioning a spring operatively connected to the shiftframe.

Figures 6 and 7 are fragmentary side views in elevation of the shift-frame and show a variation Ofmeans for tensioning and releasing the shift-sprin Figure 8 is a detail, cross-sectional view on the line 8-8 of Figure 6, showing a supporting member for the lever and spring illustrated in Figures 6 and 7.

Figures 9, 10, 11 and 12 are modifications,

' showing the different relative posit-ions of the shift-spring tensioning and releasing lever. I

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, wherein a portion of a typewriting machine is shown, 20 represents the machine-frame, and 21. indicates av type-bar pivotally mounted to swing and strike a platen 22, which is revolubly mounted on a shaft 23 and is supported the ends by platen-frames 24.

Typewriting machines are provided with mechanism for automatically lifting the ribbon and interposing thesame between the type and the work-sheet, and for silencing said mechanism when cutting stencil-blanks. Said ribbon-lifting mechanism should be silenced previously to operating the machine for stencil-cutting.

For supporting a stencil-card 25, there is mounted upon a shaft 26 a pluality of clamping jaws 27, manually operable by means of a finger-piece 28 and a thumbpiece 29. In order to insert the card 25, the

stencil-frame is first swung rearwardly on a rock-shaft 30, the finger-piece 28 and the thumb-piece 29 are pressed together to open the jaws 27, and the card may be inserted and gripped between the jaws. For holding the stencil-card 25, which may be of a different width, the jaws 27 are provided with dcprcssionsST for locating the wider cards, and with a screw which may be used for locating the narrow card as shown in Figure 3Q The stencil-card 25 is guided while the stencihframe moves to a typingposition, as

shown in Fi ure l, by means of a deflectorplate 31 which is permanently fastened to the typewriter-frame and comprises a series of guide-lines to enable the operative to properly locate the card in printing position, and is also provided with elongated slots (not shown) to render said plate rela- ;tively adjustable to the printing line, in or der that a comparatively fine adjustment may be obtained. Said deflector-plate 31 may be permanently fastened to a type-barsegment of the typewriter to replace the usual wing-scale. Heretofore it has been customary to remove the deflector-plate used in connection with a stencil-device and substitute for the same the regular wing-scales for typing. In order to eliminate the objection of removing the plate when transforming the machine, the deflector-plate 31 designed so that it may be used both when typing or when usingthe typewriter with the stencilnttachment. To this end, the plate 31 is provided with a series of guidelines on the outwardly-extending pieces and is bent out at the ends, forming ears for guiding the stencil-card when la feeding the same. Itis also provided with outwardly-extending bends 88 atits uppermost edges to assist in guiding the stencilcard when entering the printing position. In order that the plate 31 may tend to bear lightly on the platen 22, the plate is fastened to the typewriter by means of two downhardly-extending fingers 84- which form a resilient connection between the plate and the platen, thus effectively holding against the platen of the machine either the worksheet or the stencil-card.

The stencil-card 25, while held by the clamping aws' 27, may be moved vertically, step by step, for spacing the several lines of an address, and, for this purpose, a line spacing means, as shown. is arranged for manual operation. The line-spacing means comprises a roller 37, mounted on the fixed frame of the stencil-device, and serves a supporting member for a cam 33, manually operable by means ofa finger-wheel upona shaft 34, and journaled side plates 36, rigidly connected by a cross-bar 88 and a tie-rod 101, and pivoted on the rock-shaft 30. aid cam 33 is made with varying radii, so that is it is turned, the'frame-bars and the clamping jaws, supported thereby, will be raised to and held at different elevations, to correspondingly vary the elevation of the stencil-card. Means are associated with said shaft 84 by whichit is arranged to be held against reverse rotation and also in several different angular positions to predetermine the position of the lines. Said means, as here shown. consistsof a wheel arranged for connection with the shaft 34; and for moving ratchet-teeth 91 arranged to be engaged by a detent 92, on an arm 93, which is loosely pivoted at 94. Said detent-arm has a limited movement only on its pivot by reason of the slotted end portion 95 engaging a pin 96. The detcnt acts to hold a ratchet-toothed wheel in any position in which it may be set, by the rotation of shaft 34, but permits turning in one direction only. The teeth on said wheel are arranged in groups, shown as three in numher, and each group ha'sa different number of teeth. 'This provides for varying the number of lines, and also for spacing the lines more or less widely apart.

After the stencil has been impressed by the type and it is desired'to remove it from the clamping jaws, the members 28- and 29 controlling the same are operated, and, by

.means ofa link 97, operatively connected to the detent-arm-93,by means of a pin-andslot arrangement 98, when'the clamping jaws are operated to removethe impressed card, the link 97 is swung upwardly due to its being connected to the aws 27 at 99,-thereby lifting the detent-92 to clear the shortteeth in the wheel 91, and permitting a spring (not shown), within the wheel 90, to return the cam to its original or starting position,'against a large tooth of the Wheel 100.

Means are also provided to make carbontype-impressions on the backs of the stencilcards,-so that the type-impressions may be of the stencil-cards, To this end, there are shown in the drawings two different methods of feeding and supporting a carbon-strip '38 around the platen 22. Figure 1 shows a carbon-paper-receptacle 39,-mounted on a bracket 102, and having a slot 40 through which the paper is threaded from a roll of carbon-paper 11, and the strip 38 is wound around the platen 22. For locatingthe carbon-strip there are provided the end covers 103.

For-supporting the carbon-strip 38 on the platen 22, there is provided a roller 7 6 manually releasable by means of a handle 77, and operatively mounted upon a tubular 'memb er 47. Said tubular member 47 is mounted on a shaft 67, which also serves as a tie-rod for the platen-frames 24. Paper- .tingers 820f the'typewriter are mounted on the rod 48, and may be thrown back as shown in Figure "1, previously to the attaching of the stencil-device to the machine.

Normally, when the stencil-device is on the machine, the roller 76 is held for hearing against the platen 22, in known manner, by means of a spring mounted on member 47, and concealed thereby from View. The lateral movement of the tubular member 47 is limited in relation to the shaft 67, in order that, when the stencil-device is attached to the machine, the roller 76 will be approximately located in relation to the platen 22.

Figure 3 shows another method of supporting and feeding the carbon-strip 38, in which *a-roll of carbon-paper 42'is mounted on a shaft43, fed around the platen 22 and wound again on a spool 44. In order to tcnsionthe carbon-strip 38, a spring-plate 451s mounted on a supporting shaftflG hearing onthe paper-roll 42 and the spool 44 and providing an equal and uniform tension on both ends of the strip 38. The two shafts supporting the -r0lls of carbon-paper and the shaft 46 are mounted on side plates 89, which are fastened to the fixed frame of the stencil-device by means of-the shafts 30 and 67. Itis-cu'stomaryto provide-a back for the stencil-cards, in order to prevent the typelows from injuring the platen and to facilitate the cutting of the stencil. A backing 52, generally made of celluloid or other hard material, is held on the platen 22, at the point where the carbon-strip 38 passes around the same, encircling the platen 22 and being'held-in place thereon by means of a holder-plate 53. Mechanism including a pair of pins 54, carried by one end of the platen 22, engages notches in a stopdevice 56 when the platen is turned and limits the movements thereof. The stop device 56 is fast upon the stencil-frame, and. will consequently be withdrawn when the stencil-device is removed from the machine, thus permit-ting the unobstructed operation of'the platen 22.

In OIClGJ tO render the stencil-device detachable from the typewriting machine, there is provided on the platen-frames 24 a plurality of fasteners and two locating plates 58 adjust-ably mounted on the stencilside-frames 59. Said-plates 58 are provided with-elongated slots 60 for straddling the shaft 18, and are adjustably fastened to the frames '59'by means-of screws 80, to permit the stencil-devices to be adjusted in relation to the platen 22 of-the typewriter. Paperguide 104 is shown mounted upon a shaft 105 for the purpose of illustratim a clearance cut 106 in the side frames 59, necessary to clear said shaft 105.

Normally a. spring 61-is adjusted to counterbalance the typewriter-platen-frame for use without any attachment thereon, and consequently the tension of said spring will have to be increased proportionally to compensate for the added weight of the stencilattachment, or the extra weight would have to be'liftedby the'pressure-on the shift-key which would make the depression hard, the inner extremity of the shift-key-lever 49 being secured asusual to-the shift-frame 62. In order that the key-depression may be light, regardless of the weight of the attachment on the platen-frame, means are pro ided to manually tension the spring 61 for effectively compensating for the added weight of the attachment. Referring more particularly to Figures 1 and 2, which show an over-center-spring arrangement, the spring 61 is fastened to the shift-frame 62 at one end while the other end is operatively connected to crank 63, operable by means of a handle 64. The handle 64 may be under tension as shown in Figure 1 and held against a-stop 65 on the machineframe. The spring tension may be released by swinging the handle 64: to a position as l l r) 68 may shown in Figure 2. A variation of the mechanism described is illustrated in Figures at and 5, in which c rresponding reference numerals are shown.

It is desirable to provide means-tor compensating for the weight of the several attachments which may be placed on the machine, of which one may be considerably heavier than the other. To this end the spring 61 may be fastened to any of a plurality of notches 66 in the shift-frame 6:2, thereby increasing or decreasing the leverage or radius of action of the spring 61t0 suit the weight of the diii'erent attachments. In addition to the adjustment for controlling the tension of the spring 61 at one end, there is provided at the other end a lever 68 to temporarily stretch the spring for compensating for the weight oi an attachment on the machine. 1 A perforated plate 69, fast on the frame 20, is designee to co-operate with an interposing member 71, which may arrest the advancement of the lever 68 as shown in Figure 7. By placing the member 71 in different holes 70, the initial tension of the spring 61 may be changed to suit the weight of the attachment. In order to increase the tension of the spring 61, the lever be swung so that its back will be arrested by the same interposing member 71.

A variation of the above method for. manually increasin or decresing the tension of the spring 61 is shown in Figures 9, 11 and 12, in which a plurality of holes 72 in a plate 73 are designed to support an interposing member 'Ti and to arrest the travel of a lever 7 5 controlling the stretch of the spring 61, as shown in Figures 11 and 12. To release the spring 61, the lever 75 is swung to a position as shown in Figures 9 and 10. The adjustment at the other end of the spring 61 is obtained by means of the same notches 66 in the shift-frame 62.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the improvements may be used Having thus described my I claim:

1. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a carriage and a shittable platen therefor, a shift-frame operatively connected to said platen, a. shift-key and. a shift-lever for manually operating said shittable platen, of a spring operatively connected with said shift-frame for effectively compensating for the weight of the platen-frame, there being means at one end of the spring for changin the point of actuation relatively to the inicrum of the slii'ft-i'ran'ic; means inciuding at the other end of the spring an over-center swin crank for eftectively stretching and holding said spring under tension, and means concentric with said cran: for directly op erating said crank, by swinging the same over dead-center at will.

invention,

without others.

,2. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a carriage and a shiftable platen therefor, a shift-frame operatively connected to said platen, a shift-key and a shift-lever for manually operating said shittable platen, of a spring operatively connected with said shift-frame for eiiectively compensating for the weight of the platen-frame, there being means at one end of the spring for changing the point of actuation relatively to the tulcrum of the shift-frame; means operatively connected to the other end of said spring including an over-center swinging crank, fastened to a manually-operable lever which is operatively mounted upon a perforatedsupporting plate, the perforations in said plate co-operating with an. interposing member therein, in order to obstruct and thereby arrest the travel 01"". said lever for rendering the initial tension of the spring adjustable.

3. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a carriage and a shittable platen thereior, a shift-frame operatively connected to said platen, a shift-key and a shift-lever for manually operating said shift-able platen, of a spring operatively connected with said shift-frame for eiicctively compensating for the weight of the platen-frame, there being means at one end or" the spring for changing the point of actuation elatively to the tulrrum of the shift-frammmeans at the other end or" the spring for efiectively stretching the same in definite steps, including a plate fast on the machine-frame, a swinging crank having a large radius of swing and an independent handle fer operating said crank arranged concentrically therewith and rotatably mounted on said plate, said plate having a' plurality of holes therein and an independent interposing member co-opcrattherewith, the position of the member being changeable into the different holes for obtainin a variable stretching of the spring, and means for releasing the spring by swinging the handle away from the interposing member.

4 In a typewriting machine having a vertically shiftable platen-frame, the combination with a detachable paper-handling unit mounted on said frame and shi'l'table therewith, and a rail-frame for shifting said platen-frame, of a counterbalancing spring mechanism for the platen and shift-frames, including a i ember directly shittable from normal low-tension position to opposite high-tension position when the aforesaid unit is attached to the platen-frame.

In a typewrit-ing machine having avertically-shiftable platen-frame, the combination with a detachable paper-handling unit mounted on said frame and shittable therewith, and a rail-frame for shifting said platen-frame, of acounterbalancing spring mechanism for the platen, and rail frame,

including a relatively-rigid stop on said ma chine, a crank pivotally mounted on the machine in spaced relation to said stop, a spring connected at one end to said crank and at the other to the rail-frame, a pivot for the crank, and means associated with said pivot, whereby to rotate said crank from a normal low-tension position of the crank and spring to an opposite high-tension position in order to counterbalance said detachable unit, said stop being disposed between the low andhigh tension positions of said pivot means 6. In a typewriting machine having a main frame, a vertically-shiftable platenframe supported thereon, and a rail-frame for shifting said platen-frame, the combination with a detachable paper-handling unit mounted on the platen-frame and shiftable therewith, of a counterbalancing device including a support on said main frame, a projecting stop on said support, a spring connected at one end to said rail-frame, a crank connected to the other end of said spring and pivotally mounted on said support in such manner as to be swingable over dea d-center from an initial low-tension position of the spring in which the crank is dis posed adjacent the stop upon one side, to a final high-tension position wherein said crank is disposed adjacent the stop on the oth side in order to counterbalance said detachable unit, and distinct ieans to swing said crank at will.

'7. In a typewriting machine having a main frame, a vertically-shiftable platenframe supported thereon, and a rail-frame for shifting said platen-frame, the combination with a detachable paper-handling unit mounted on the platen-frame and shiftable therewith, of a counterbalancing device including a support on said main frame, a stop which is displaceable to various stationary positions on said support, a spring connected at one end to said rail-frame, a crank con: nected to the other end of said spring and pivotally mounted on said support in such manner as to be swingable over dead-center from an initial low-tension position of the spring in which the crank is disposed adjacent the stop upon one side, to a final high-tension position wherein said crank is disposed adjacent the stop on the other side in order to counterbalance said detachable unit, and distinct means to swing said crank at w'll.

8. In a typewriting machine having a main frame, a vertically-shiftable platenframe thereon, and a rail-frame for shifting said platen-frame, the combination with a detachable paperhandling unit mounted on the platen-frame and shiftable therewith, of a counter-balancing device including a plurality of stop-seats upon said main frame, a detachable stop-member arranged to individuaily engage and be supported in said stop-seats, a spring connected at one end to said rail-frame, and a crank connected to the other end of said spring and pivotally mounted on the main frame in such manner as to be swing-able over dead-center from any one of a plurality of initial low-tension positions of the spring in which the crank is disposed adjacent said stop-member upon one side, to a corresponding final hightension position in which the crank is disposed adjacent the stop-member upon the other side, there being means to swing said crank at will.

9. In a typewriting machine having a main frame, a vertically-shiftable platenframe supported thereon, and a rail-frame for shifting said platen-frame the combination with a detachable paper-handling unit mounted on the platen-frame and shiftable therewith, of a counterbalancing device including a stationary stop on said main frame, a spring connected at one end to said rail-frame, a rotatable pivot mounted on the main frame, a crank-arm connected to the other end of said spring and secured to said pivot in such manner as to be swingable thereon over dead-center from normal lowtension position of said spring in which the crank-arm is disposed adjacent said stop upon one side, to an opposite high-tension 9 position in which said crank-arm is disposed adjacent the stop upon the other side in order to counterbalance theweight of said detachable unit, and a manually-operable lever secured to said pivot, whereby to rotate the same and swing said crank-arm. ALFRED G. F. KUROXVSKI. 

